Crossing the border with Blue Jays beat reporter Jordan Bastian.

If it ain't broke…

TORONTO — In honor of Cito Gaston’s favorite lineup, which is making an unprecedented (this season at least) fourth appearance in a row, I’m going to forget all about the importance of sample sizes and provide you a glimpse of what this local nine has done since Gaston took over the manager’s chair a week ago:

Man, if only Gibby would’ve found this lineup among the 60-odd combinations he tried. Granted, Jays fans shouldn’t start crying playoffs until there’s a sample size large enough to call a trend, and rolling this lineup against some American League foes will be a better test as well.

So it’s far too early to start annointing Cito and Gene Tenace and their revolutionary “see ball, hit ball” approach as the saviors of this season. There’s a loooong way to go yet. Gaston would like to simply reach .500 before the All-Star break. For those counting at home, the Jays need to go 10-5 over the next 15 games to reach that goal.

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Tenace has officially “reprogrammed” the hitters into seeing the ball and hitting it. It’s miraculous the improvements a hitter can make when his eyes are open.

If the hitters continue putting up the numbers they currently are (or close to it, Inglett isn’t The Babe) for the rest of the season, then I will give the new staff credit. Until then, I will chalk this up to… Odds say they would due to turn it around.

Tonight, the Jays played Teixeira. Final score Teixeira 3 Blue Jays 0. Teixeira has to be one of the most dangerous hitters in baseball, I think even more dangerous than David Ortiz now. Check out the size of his arms and legs, man he is strong. He’s a free agent this year, would he ever look good in a Blue Jays uniform. Probably cost 20-25 mill per year for 6-7 years, but I think he’d be worth every penny. Imagine inserting him into the 4th hole surrounded by Rios, Wells and Rolen-now that would be a scary lineup. In our homer dome, he might hit 50 per year.

So here’s the deal. Trade Burnett, Overbay and Eckstein now to Atlanta for Teixeira and Diory Hernandez, providing we can come to an agreement with Teixera-which won’t be an easy feat because he’s represented by Scott Boras. Next year we’d loose Overbay’s salary of 7 mill, Thomas of 10 mill Burnett at 12 mill, Eckstein at 4.5 mill. Hernandez is **** with speed, stole 54 bases in the midwest league last year and is one of the Braves top prospects.

So even if we have to go to 20-25 for Teixeira, it would be lower cost than where we’re at right now. And Boras might agree to a 3 year deal, since Teixera’s only 28 and could come back to free agency again in 3 years.

Then we pray either Purcey or Parrish is better than a .500 pitcher-which really is all AJ has done for us, so it shouldn’t be that hard of a task.

Who would not like a playe like Teixeria? However, the key for the Jays is to draft and develop players with his type of upside. Atalnta is not going to win anything with him, at least not in the near future. It is not Cito this team needs, it is a return to the scouting and development philosophy that provided him with the players he had to manage. Once you have got the core, you can acquire players like Teixeria through trades, as we did with Alomar and Carter. The problem here is with the core – Rios, Wells, etc. Unfortunately, Toronto fans tend to over hype their players. Even someone like me could see that Wells was nothing compared to Devon White or Carlos Delgado. He never was in the minors, and never will be in the future. Why give him outrageous money to stay? Because the bean counters at Rogers think that Toronto fans are stupid! They think that all you have to do is keep their fan favourites (e.g., Darcy – no talent – Tucker) and the fans will show up in droves. The managment team running the Jays is not necessarily trying to put a winner on the field. They are tyring to put “BUMS in SEATS”. That is why Cito was hired, and why the Jays will give stupid contract to fan favourites. Here is the next stupid contract: Big money for the DOC. It is clear that he is not the future of the franchise. His skills and ability are decreasing year by year. However, he is still good enough that we could get at least 3 prime-time minor leaguers for him. Toronto will never trade him because they think that people will not show up to the games. Billy Beane, on the other hand would, and then go on to make a world series appearance 2-3 years down the road. Unfortunately, Toronto is doomed to failure because the business model is based on “BUMS in SEATS” not on winning. That said, don’t be surpirsed to see Teixeria. If they think a few more fans will come out to see him, they might even make him co-manager too!

Long time lurker, first time poster, I decided it was time to get active to agree with you Freedom. That I saw, Parrish only threw 4 or so changeups, relying on basically two different sliders and a 4-seamer with some nice tail. I’d love to know what the exact tip Arnsberg gave him that changed things around, but whatever it was, Parrish has two solid pitches, practically three, and a changeup with room to develop. The only question now is how they use him out of the pen until we need him to start again. With Cito’s seeming trust in pitching coaches coaching the pitching, I trust that Arnsberg and Walton will keep him fresh and ready to go.

Nice to see Burnett get through 2 innings with 4 K’s and still be under 40 pitches. It’d be nice if he can provide a QS for us at least, so some of our lefties can get a day off. ;-)

That’s the way to beat Atlanta, walk Teixera 3 times. I completely agree with that strategy, particulary in a tight game. Another nice outing from Burnett-now 2 in a row. I hope he keeps this up over his next 4-5 starts to increase his trade value.

We got lucky that Chipper wasn’t hitting behind Teixeria this series. Close game and a good win but too many double plays and not being able to push across RISP. A lot of the same in fact. Rios, Wells, Rolen seem to be producing a lot better, just hope they keep it up because that is all we really need with our great pitching.

Rios needs to try and pull the ball more, he seems to have success doing that and Eckstien needs to hit more often without runners on base. He will always hit line drives or hard balls on the ground and test the infield. You are never really looking for Eckstein to drive in runs.

homer, you make a good point about Chipper not being in the lineup but I wonder how people can say that when the jays have injuries it’s no excuse etc. but when another team comes in and is missing a key piece people say the “Jays are lucky” bottom line: they won and that’s all that matters. They have a good shot at sweeping the Mariners now too. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

If we can get to within (atleast) 7-6 games out of first place before the all allstar break, then I think we still have a chance of making it to the playoffs, but if we are anymore than that, even though I never give up hope, I think it’s pretty much safe to say that we are not going to make it.

I’m liking that the Jays are showing a little more pop at the plate. It will be interesting to see if any Jay can make it to 20 homeruns this season.

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